Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young will reunite for the first time since 2006 when they headline Neil Young’s annual acoustic Bridge School benefit concerts, Oct. 26 and 27 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, near San Francisco. The amphitheatre can hold up to 30,000.

Young and his wife Peggy have two handicapped children who attended the school that assists children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. Their first Bridge School benefit concert was in 1986. Among the artists who have performed at the shows in the past include Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel and David Bowie.

Will Bowie tour after all?

Concert giant Live Nation is preparing a multi-million-dollar offer for David Bowie to tour for the first time since his 2004 tour was halted when he suffered a heart attack at Germany’s Hurricane Festival, reports Britain’s Mirror.

Not wanting to be left out, the other big gun of concerts, AEG, is said to offer the 66-year-old Thin White Duke huge bucks for one concert, possibly in Hyde Park in London. Bowie recently released his first studio album in a decade, “The Next Day,” that hit No. 1 in Britain and at least half-a-dozen other countries. It maxed out at No. 2 here and has yet to be certified with gold record status.

Meanwhile, Bowie conformed on his Facebook page that he sang on Arcade Fire’s new single, “Reflector.” He was also nominated for six Q Awards from the UK’s Q Magazine for “The Next Day” and its single, “Where Are We Now.” The awards will be presented in London on Oct. 21.

Springsteen and Waters headline “Stand Up for Heroes” benefit

Bruce Springsteen and former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters headline the “Stand Up for Heroes” benefit to support wounded warriors and their families on November 6 at the 5,600-seat Theater at Madison Square Garden, according to the New York Comedy Festival, which is producing the show. Comics Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Stewart will also perform. The event’s website says, “Stand Up for Heroes honors the sacrifice of returning service members, veterans and their families by offering support in the effort to heal the physical and psychological wounds of war.”

Good golly, Little Richard retires

Rock and roll pioneer Little Richard turned 80 last Dec. 5. The man who recorded such screaming ‘50s classics as “Tutti-Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Lucille” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” may have retired after seven decades as a performer.

Richard told Rolling Stone, ““I am done, in a sense. I don’t feel like doing anything right now.” Lately he’s been dealing with back problems (sciatica) and a degenerating hip. In June 2012, he was forced to halt his concert, telling his audience, “Jesus, please help me. I can hardly breathe. It’s horrible.” However, he reportedly was healthy and hearty and tore it up during his performance at this year’s Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend at the Orleans Hotel and Casino on April 1.

He says he’s been spending most of his time designing clothes and praying. In the middle of a concert in Sydney, Australia, in 1957, he stopped the show to announce that he was going to become a minister, which he did indeed become in 1970.

In 1986, Little Richard was in the first class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Awards and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Last week, Richard’s hometown college, Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, presented him with an honorary doctorate as the visibly moved legend wiped away tears during the presentation.

Vince Gill confronts Westboro churchgoers protesting his show

An angry Vince Gill confronted members of ultra-controversial pastor Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church who were on the sidewalk in front of the Kaufman Center in Kansas City, where the former Pure Prairie League leader was performing that night, reports the Boot.

Gill’s concert was targeted for protests by the church members because they believe that because Gill and his first wife divorced and he later married Contemporary Christian pop and gospel singer Amy Grant, that he is guilty of adultery.

Gill strolled over to the sign-carrying protesters where he was asked what he was doing there. “I just came to see what hate looks like,” he replied. He was then berated by Westboro protestors with one woman saying, “Don’t you know that divorce plus remarriage equals adultery? Jesus Christ said that.”

A now-angry Gill responded, “Did he? Do you know what else he said? He said a lot of stuff about forgiveness; about grace . . . you guys don’t have any of it.”

His show went off without incident.

Gill’s tour stops in Bakersfield at the 10,225-seat Rabobank Arena on Oct. 25 and at the more intimate 1,127-seat McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert.

Elton John to perform Liberace tribute at Emmys

Elton John, at one time the most flamboyant pianist of his time and now fully recovered from his recent appendectomy, will perform a tribute to Liberace, the most flamboyant pianist of his time, at this year’s prime time Emmy Awards on Sept. 22 on CBS. His performance is in connection with the HBO film bio on Liberace, “Behind the Candelabra,” that received 15 nominations, including nods for Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his young lover Scott Thorson.

The 66-year-old British knight has never won an Emmy and, in fact, has never been nominated for one. It’s one of the few major entertainment awards to elude him.

Liberace was one of America’s most popular entertainers from the ‘40s through the mid-’80s. In 1954, he was paid the-then astronomical $138,000 for one concert at Madison Square Garden. By the mid-’50s, the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was paying him $50,000 a week for his lengthy engagements, and he had 200 fans clubs throughout America. His weekly music shows during the ‘50s on ABC and NBC that consisted of him sitting at his grand piano adorned with a lit candelabra playing classical pieces and popular standards, paid him millions.

In the ‘80s, his residencies at the Hilton Hotels in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe paid him $300,000 a week. One sign of his hip popularity happened in 1966 when he played a villain of the week in two episodes on the ABC smash, “Batman” as charming pianist Chandell and also his evil twin brother Harry. According to “The Official ‘Batman’ Batbook,” by Joel Eisner, his two episodes were the highest rated of the show’s entire three-season run. Liberace died of AIDS in February 1987 at age 67.

Marianne Faithful opens up about sex

British Invasion singer Marianne Faithful, who was Mick Jagger’s girlfriend in the late ‘60s, told Britain’s Sunday Times that she really didn’t like men or sex at all. The 66-year-old, who scored here with four Top 40 hits, including the lilting, paisley “Summer Nights” in 1964 and 1965, says that the rape of her mother and grandmother at the end of World War II left her with a horror of men that lasted more than three decades.

“My mother particularly, and my grandmother, naturally enough, really hated men. It twisted them both. My grandmother turned away from my grandfather, who adored her. And Eva (her mother) never got over that and always hated men. She then passed that on to me, actually. It took me years, until the time I got to 50 or so, before I could be in a relationship and love, and not have to take drink or drugs to have sex,” she says.

In the late ‘60s, she became addicted to cocaine, and then, as her relationship with Jagger was waning, to heroin. In July 1969, she traveled with Jagger to Australia as they were breaking up when he starred in “Ned Kelly.” She was to co-star in the film, but she overdosed on sleeping pills on the flight from London and was in a coma when the jet landed in Sydney. She was hospitalized and sent back home to London. When Jagger finally did break up with her in 1970, she attempted suicide. Her heroin and cocaine addictions became so heavy that for two years she lived on the streets of Soho and attempts by friends to have her stay in rehab long enough to heal failed. After years of tragic trials and tribulations, during which she released albums sporadically and performed sparingly, experiencing two successful career rebounds in the process, she reportedly cleaned up in the late ‘80s.

She was recently hospitalized for more than a month and was forced to cancel a couple concerts when she broke her back.

Ian Anderson and Steve Hackett win awards

At the annual Progressive Music Awards, created by Prog Magazine, at London’s Kew Gardens, former and possibly future Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson was presented with its Prog God Award.

Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett won two awards for Best Live Event for “Genesis Revisited at Hammersmith Apollo.” Guitar deity Steve Hillage, who led Gong on and off from 1972 through last year, won the Best Visionary Award. Marillion, who have sold more than 15 million albums since forming in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1979, was named Band Of The Year.

American drummer-bassist-guitarist Mike Portnoy, co-founder of progressive metal band Dream Theater in 1985 and who remained in the group until 2010, won the Virtuoso Award. Dave Brock, who founded the space rock outfit Hawkwind in London in 1969, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

CMA Awards nominees announced

The Country Music Association’s CMA Awards nominees were announced. Two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year Taylor Swift and newbie Kacey Musgrave led the pack, each receiving six nominations. Blake Shelton, who won Entertainer of the Year last year, picked up five nominations, while Keith Urban gathered four noms.

Bob Dylan picked up his first-ever CMA nomination in the Song of the Year category (awarded to the songwriters) for “Wagon Wheel,” a song wrote that became a smash for former Hootie & The Blowfish leader Darius Rucker. Dylan began to write “Wagon Wheel” in 1973 during the production of Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” that starred James Coburn as Garrett and Kris Kristofferson as Billy, in which Dylan had a rare acting role and wrote and recorded the soundtrack.

The awards will be broadcast live on ABC from the 18,500-seat Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Nov. 6.

On the British charts: Glen Campbell and Bob Dylan

Glen Campbell’s new studio effort, “See You There,” an unexpected album considering his Alzheimer’s that is expected to be his final studio album, sits at No. 1 on Britain’s country album chart, according to Billboard. Whiney Houston’s “The Ultimate Collection” is No. 20 on the R&B chart, while Pink Floyd’s eternal, never-ending hit, 1973’s “Dark Side of the Moon” is at No. 4 on the rock album chart.

On the UK pop album chart, Bob Dylan’s “Another Self Portrait 1969-1971,” entered that chart at No. 5. Rod Stewart’s latest, “Time,” sits at No. 25, down from No. 15 the week before. The Rides, the new supergroup that includes Stephen Stills, guitar hotshot Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Barry Goldberg, who played keyboards when Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, entered the chart at No. 87 with their debut album, “Can’t Get Enough.”

Bruno Mars gets 2014 Super Bowl Halftime Show gig

Bruno Mars, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter whose music includes pop, reggae, R&B, jazz, blues and rock music, was confirmed by the NFL as the headliner for Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Last year, Beyonce headlined and her 12-minute set included a brief reunion with her former Destiny’s Child female vocal group mates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Since beginning his recording career in 2010 Mars has sold more than 10 million albums. Since that time he’s logged five No.1 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100, including the single “Just the Way You Are,” which has sold 12.5 million copies.

Irene Cara forced to cancel Aussie tour

Irene Cara, who won an Academy Award in 1984 for co-writing her biggest hit, “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” from the film, “Flashdance,” has been forced to cancel her six-show November tour of Australia, due to what’s been termed “travel issues with some of the key members of her band,” reports VVN. No other information was given except that the 54-year-old Cara hopes to reschedule.

Steven Tyler joins Keith Urban for Nashville club gig

Keith Urban was playing an intimate club gig at Tootsie’s in Nashville, promoting his new “Fuse” album when he was joined onstage by Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler as the crowd went wild. The pair ran through ZZ Top’s first hit, La Grange” and ended with Tyler’s Aerosmith classic, “Walk This Way.”

Injured Loretta Lynn cancels shows

That “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” 81-year-old Loretta Lynn, was forced to cancel several concerts in Oklahoma after an accident at home. She told the tale with a post on her Facebook page.

I’ve had to cancel my shows in Oklahoma this weekend. I hate more than anything to miss shows, but sometimes you just have to.

She wrote, “I’m like an accident waiting to happen these days. I was trying to get my guitar down out of my closest and the dang thing fell on top of me causing me to fall into my dresser. All this happened right before my big Labor Day Concert at my Ranch in Hurricane Mills. I didn’t know how bad I hurt myself until the next day. Come to find out I had broken two of my ribs. We are rescheduling the shows now, I hate more than anything to have to miss shows, but it’s something you just have to do.

I just hope everyone comes back to see me in OK.”

Later this year, Lynn will receive America’s highest civilian honor from President Obama, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

New Releases

Among the recently released albums, digital reissues, MP3 downloads and deluxe box sets are “Now, Then & Forever,” the first new studio album in seven years from Earth, Wind & Fire; “Feels Like Home,” the first full country album of Sheryl Crow’s career after dabbling in the genre throughout her two-decade-long career, with help from Vince Gill and Zac Brown; “Fuse,” the 7th album by Australian country star Keith Urban was inspired by U2’s “Achtung Baby”; a budget-priced import, Getting Over the Storm,” the 18th studio album from British reggae band UB40 sees them go country with Randy Travis’ “On the Other Hand,” Willie Nelson’s Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” Jim Reeves’ He’ll Have to Go,” and George Jones’ title song; and a 2-CD, “MDNA World Tour” from Madonna documents last year’s jaunt and features “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Vogue,” “Like a Prayer” and others.

“Still Within the Sound of My Voice” from Jimmy Webb with his pals Brian Wilson, Art Garfunkel, Carly Simon, Joe Cocker, Amy Grant, America, Kris Kristofferson, Marc Cohn, Lyle Lovett, Keith Urban, The Jordanaires and David Crosby and Graham Nash; the 20-track, 2-CD, “Privateering,” from former Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler with a band that includes Fabulous Thunderbirds singer-harmonica player Kim Wilson; and “Live in San Francisco,” from Ry Cooder (his first live album in 35 years) and Corridos Famosos that includes Flaco Jiminez on accordion was recorded in 2011 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and includes Woodie Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi,” Snooky Young’s Why Don’t You Try Me” and Sam The Sham and The Pharaoh’s “Wooly Bully.”

The 20-track “Boardwalk Empire Volume 2: Music From The HBO Original Series” Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks with featured vocals from Liza Minnelli, former New York Dolls frontman David Johansen, Leon Redbone, Elvis Costello, Neko Case, Rufus Wainwright, Patti Smith and others; a 33-song, 2-CD greatest hits set from British punks The Clash, “Hits Back,” priced at $10 on Amazon; “Saturday Morning,” the latest studio effort from 83-year-old cool jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal includes his takes on the standards “I Got it Bad (and That Ain’t Good)” and “I’m in the Mood for Love”; and “Epilogue” from Prog Collective, a supergroup with Larry Fast, Alan Parsons, Yes’ Rick Wakeman, Chris Squire and Tony Kaye, Asia’s John Wetton, Gong’s Steve Hillage, The Moody Blues’ Patrick Moraz, Deep Purple’s Steve Morse, Genesis’ Peter Banks, Billy Idol’s Steve Stevens, The Tubes’ Fee Waybill, The Buggles’ Geoff Downes and others, including … William Shatner.

“It Ain’t All Bad,” the first non-instrumental album in eight years from country vet, singer-guitarist Steve Wariner, owner of 14 No. 1 country hits whose debut LP was released in 1978 and who was mentored by Chet Atkins; “Trios,” from three jazzsters, 77-year-old pianist Carla Bley, 56-year-old British saxman Andy Sheppard and 72-year-old bassist Steve Swallow; a 50-song 2-CD, “Crazy,” looks at Willie Nelson’s early days; “Final Call” from 60-year-old Japanese New Age pioneer Kitaro; and “Amazing Grace,” a comprehensive collection of gospel songs from George Jones, who died at 81 in April, includes the previously unreleased “Great Judgment Morning” featuring Waylon Jennings, Jesse Colter, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith.

A 2-CD, “Fully Unleashed: Live Gigs 1,” from early ‘70s hard rockers Cactus, featuring Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Tim Bogart, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit wheels guitarist Jim McCarty (not The Yardbirds’ Jim McCarty), and Amboy Dukes singer Rusty Day; and a 5-CD import box, “Crisis,” from Mike Oldfield of “Tubular Bells” fame features his ‘80s music; and a 4-CD import box reissue, “Monterey Pop,” features iconic performances by The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, Eric Burdon and his new Animals, Big Brother and The Holding Company with Janis Joplin and Otis Redding as well as Simon and Garfunkel, The Association, The Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and The Fish, The Mamas and The Papas, The Byrds, The Buffalo Springfield (with David Crosby), Hugh Masekela and others.

Steve Smith writes a new Classic Pop, Rock and Country Music News column every week. Contact him by email at Classicpopmusicnews@gmail.com.

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